Ode to Apollo
by lunarchroniclesandcockatiels
Summary: Cass, Daughter of Apollo, decides to enter a mortal contest in which you have to write a poem about what one parent means to you. Cassie chooses her dad- and before she realizes, she's neck deep in trouble.
1. Chapter 1

I sat in the middle of the Apollo Cabin, trying to write a poem. So far, I was unsuccessful.

"Hey guys," I called. "What word rhymes with Apollo?"

"Awesome." Olivia suggested, rolling her eyes. "At least that's what Dad thinks."

"How about swallow?" Kayla said. Her eyes drifted to the paper in my hands. "What's your poem about anyway, Cass?"

"Well…" I said. "I'm trying to enter this mortal contest. You have to write a poem about one of your parents, and what they mean to you."

"Couldn't you just do your mom?" Austin asked. I glared at him. He gulped.

"Oh yeah. Sorry Cassie. I forgot there for a sec."

You see, my mom died in a car accident three years ago, and I had been stuck in camp ever since. Which if you ask me, is a long time.

But no one ever asks the children of Apollo anything. It's like we're some spoiled, stuck- up brats that only care about ourselves, and our amazing blue eyes and blonde hair.

Not that my hair is amazing. On most days, it's a ratty, tangled mess of blonde waves. Today was one of those days, unfortunately.

"It doesn't have to rhyme." Will reminded me. "You know you could write a haiku or something, Cassie."

I rolled my eyes. "Everyone expects me to write a haiku just because Dad's been obsessed with them ever since he visited Japan."

"Write an ode." Austin commented. "They originated in Ancient Greece, you know."

"I know." I said. "What do I call it? Ode to Apollo?"

"That's perfect!" cried Victoria. "Now you just need to write it on paper."

After about an hour, I had come up with a semi- okay poem.

"Guys!" I called, looking around the cabin. I had gone to write the rest of the poem on my bed. No answer.

"Guys!" I tried again, this time a little louder. I sighed. My cabin had left me. Again.

Running to the bathroom, I splashed some water on my face, and attempted to finger comb my hair, which somehow made it messier. Grabbing my poem, I pulled on sneakers, and ran out the door.

—-

My first stop was the infirmary. There, I found Will and Elena, who were busy with a patient.

"Will," I called. "Where did everyone else go?"

My half brother sighed. "Archery. And we looked for you, but you had fallen asleep on your bed. and you know how crabby you get if someone wakes you up."

"Wait!" cried Elena, as I was running out the door. "Don't forget your poem!"

I sighed and ran back for it.

—

I met the rest of my cabin at the archery field. Well, what really happened was that I accidentally walked in front of the targets, and was yelled at to get off before someone hit me.

"Hey guys!" I called. "I finished my poem! Wanna hear?"

"Sure." said Marisol. "Speak away Cass." And with that, she let her arrow to fly and managed to get a perfect bull's eye.

I cleared my throat loudly. "Ode to Apollo. By Cassie E. Greeney.

 _My Dad means a lot of things to me._

 _First of all, he's awesome,_

 _And he's a great singer._

 _My Dad is also a doctor_

 _Saving lives, right and left._

 _And he is always there for me_

 _When I need him._

 _He never forgets my birthday_

 _Always bringing me a gift._

 _He is very smart_

 _And always knows the right thing to do._

 _That is what my Dad means to me."_

Sadly, no one applauded my poem, which was truly a work of art. Victoria did raise an eyebrow, though.

"Um, Cassie?" she asked. "Did you just take Dad and write down the exact opposite of what he's like? Because that is what it sounds like."

"True." said Austin. "Dad has never once remembered my birthday. And a gift? That's pushing it."

"Oh, come on, guys!" I cried. "Lighten up! It's not like anyone will ever see it, right?"

My cabin mates looked at each other. "Well…" they said. "I guess not."

Little did we know how absolutely wrong I was.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! :D**

One month after I had submitted the poem, I received a letter in the mail. I ran back to my cabin, and tore it open.

"Guys!" I screamed, running around the cabin. "I got second place the poetry contest!"

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "No offense, Cassie." she said. "But are you sure they mailed it to the right person? Because, well, I mean, there isn't exactly an easy way to say this, but your poem wasn't the greatest."

I read more of the letter. "Yup." I said happily. "Second place. But, to be fair, only ten people entered because the contest was in a newspaper."

"Well, that explains it." said Victoria.

My eyes caught on a sentence not to far from the bottom of the paper. "Oh no!" I screamed, flopping on my bed dramatically. "My life is ruined!"

Will sighed, in his Cassie- what- did- you- do- now way. "What now, Cassie?"

"They said that Dad has to come to the awards ceremony!" I said, sitting up too quick on my bed, bumping my head.

The perfect end to a perfect day. Ouch.

…..

We stayed up late that night, thinking of ways to get Dad to come to the ceremony.

"We could find the hunters and get Artemis to convince Dad to come." suggested Kayla. I shook my head.

"No, Artemis probably wouldn't listen to us." I said.

"What we need," said Austin. "Is a way to get Dad's attention."

"We could steal his sun chariot." suggested Austin.

Will overheard our conversation and shook his head.

"Cassie," he said, sounding regretful. "It's just a poetry contest. You don't need Dad to come."

"It is not _just_ a poetry contest!" I cried. "And yes, I do need Dad to come because the letter said so."

"It did." confirmed Elena. "I read it."

"That isn't helping, Elena." said Will. "And Cassie, there will be other poetry contests.

I chose to ignore my counselor/ half-brother.

"Wait a minute!" I said. "What if I took Dad's lyre?"

Seven pairs of eyes locked onto mine.

"No." said Kayla. "You couldn't- that's not-"

"Not what?" I asked. Kayla sighed.

"You don't want him to kill you, Cass."

" _Cassandra_." said Will. "You are not going to steal Dad's lyre, and that's final. Now go to sleep."

"Yes, I am, _William_." I replied.

"One word." said my half brother. "Dessert."

"I am going to get that lyre no matter what!" I cried. "And I don't care if you take away my dessert privileges until I'm fifty."

"This isn't about impressing Dad, is it?" His words hit me hard. Harder than they should have.

"If I wanted to impress Dad, why would I steal his lyre?" I asked.

Everyone was watching us fight.

"Not the lyre. The poetry contest." Will corrected.

I didn't answer, knowing I would break down crying if I did.

Will sighed. "Just promise me you won't go try to steal it, okay?"

I still didn't answer.

"Do you want me to tell Chiron?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Good. Then don't leave."

—-

At about midnight, I saw my chance and left. But this quest was to be achieved alone.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. You guys are awesome! :D**

I silently walked through the camp, trying to stay in the shadows, so that the cleaning harpies wouldn't find me.

Everything looked different at night- stranger. Long shadows covered everything, and it was quiet. Too quiet.

As a child of the sun god, the presence of the moon in the sky felt eerie and uncanny. I shivered, wishing I had the sense to of grabbed a coat.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I opened my mouth to scream, but someone had placed their hand over it.

"Shh, Cassie." they whispered. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just my sister, Marisol.

"Marisol!" I whisper-yelled. "What are you doing here?"

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. "What do you think?"

"I don't know!" I cried.

"I'm coming to help you steal the lyre." Marisol said, with a remnant of a smirk. She held something out to me. "By the way, you forgot your coat."

"Thanks." I said, putting it around my shoulders. Although it was summer, the night air was crisp and cool, and I was grateful for the jacket.

We continued walking until we reached the camp boundary. I checked again just to make sure my sword was in my pocket.

Suddenly, a figure appeared before us.

"Did I hear you mention stealing?" asked the god of thieves.

Marisol shifted uncomfortably. "Um, yes my lord." she answered.

"May I inquire what is that you're stealing?" Hermes asked.

"Apollo's lyre." I murmured. Hermes raised an eyebrow, and sighed.

"Well, I can't do anything since we're not supposed to meddle in demigod affairs." Hermes voice suddenly grew serious. "But I can say this. Apollo is not the most forgiving god, so be careful." He then disappeared.

Marisol stared at me. "Cassie, are you sure about this?"

"Of course I'm sure." I answered, my voice wavering a bit. "Come on. I'm pretty sure Apollo has an apartment in New York City somewhere."

As we exited the safe boundaries of camp, I felt the air grow thicker with tension. This was such a big risk- and for what, a stupid poetry contest? Impressing my father? Was this really worth it, especially with Marisol coming too? Did I really want to risk my sister's life as well as my own?

Marisol followed me without question. Farther into the woods we went, with Marisol's flashlight as our only guide.

At about one in the morning, Marisol decided she would take the first watch, and I went to sleep.

I didn't wake up again until eight.

"Marisol!" I cried. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

She shrugged. "I didn't see the point. I kind of fell asleep, too, by the way."

"Whatever." I told her. "Come on."


	4. Chapter 4

We trudged along in the woods a bit more, until we reached the nearest town. It was quaint, with only about a hundred houses, and a small cafe.

"Come on!" I called, pointing to the cafe, and grabbing Marisol's arm. She sighed, running along with me.

I opened the door to the tiny cafe. Above the door hung a peeling old sign that read "Polly's Pastries."

Marisol followed me carefully. She stepped into Polly's Pastries, her eyes locked on something- or someone on the other side of the room.

I shook her shoulder. "Mare, what is it? What's wrong?"

"Hello, Cassie." said a voice on the other side of the room. "I've been looking for you."

I spun around, my hair catching on a loose nail. There, standing on the other side of the room, was none other than my half-brother, Will Solace.

—

I suppose I must have fainted, because the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor, with Will and Marisol leaning over me. Will was pressing a wet paper towel on my forehead, and Marisol looked like she was about to burst into tears,

Standing near by me was a women around the age of thirty who must have been Polly. She wore a pink apron, with the words "Polly's Pastries" sewn on, and she carried a young boy on her hip. The woman had brown hair, and brown eyes, which reminded me vaguely of my own mother, who I ached for.

"Is she alright?" Polly called. Will frowned thoughtfully.

"She's awake." he answered back. "Cassie, do you hear me?"

"Yes." I said meekly. "Can I have some water?" Then as an afterthought, I added, "Please?"

"Sure." replied Will. He eyed me cautiously. "Can you sit up?"

"Yes." I answered, getting to my feet. I still felt a little dizzy, though, and the world seemed to spin.

"Careful." Will warned, helping me into the nearest seat. His eyes suddenly grew angry and tired. "Now, about that lyre….."

Marisol started to sob quietly. I fixed my gaze on the cupcakes in the display case.

Will grabbed my elbow. "I'm only going to say this once, so look at me, Cassandra,"

I stared at him, bracing myself for the yelling that was going to come.

"Do you have any idea what would have happened if your plan have worked? Do you know how much trouble we would all be in?" Will shook his head, sighing. "I expected more from you, Cassandra. You too, Marisol. And after I warned you, you both still went and did it anyways."

"Chiron's gonna kill us." Marisol said weakly, placing her head on the table.

"No, he's not." Will muttered. "I didn't tell him."

"Wait, what?" I cried.

"Yes." said Will. "I didn't want the whole cabin to get into trouble because of you two. Elena and I looked for you two in the nearest town. I wasn't even supposed to leave camp."

 **A/N: So how was it?**


	5. Chapter 5

"So, now what?" I asked as soon as we came out of the restaurant.

Will sighed. I could tell he was thinking about me, and all the trouble I caused by the look on his face. "Now, Cassie, we go back to Camp, and pretend we never left in the first place."

"That's right." chirped Elena, walking out from one of the bushes that lined the roadside. "I had Austin Kayla cover for us in the infirmary. And, if anyone asked, our cabin told them that we were in the cabin, working intently on a poem." She handed me a letter. "And Cassie, this came in the mail today."

I grabbed the letter, tearing it open. I squinted at the words that filled the page. Eventually, I made out something like "The award ceremony for the poetry contest has been canceled."

Elena sighed, reading over my shoulder. "Well, that's disappointing, Cassie. But don't worry, there will always be other contests.

Will chuckled nervously. "Right."

Marisol frowned slightly, looking a bit surprised. She looked at both Will and Elena, and then nodded.

"Something's not right." she muttered under her breath.

—-

Later that day, after we had reached camp, I was at the archery range with Victoria, when she sent me to go ask Will something.

I walked up to the infirmary, where I assumed my brother would be, and was about to open the door until I heard voices coming from inside.

"Good thing she didn't realize it was in your handwriting, Elena." I heard Will say. I frowned, putting my ear up against the door.

"Yeah," Elena agreed. "But I feel kind of bad tricking her. You know?"

"Well," put in Will. "It's for her own good."

I took that moment to open the door. "Hey guys," I greeted them. "What's for my own good?"

Will and Elena exchanged looks.

"Could it be….. A letter that you wrote, and pretended was from the poem contest people? So I didn't go get the lyre?" I paused before continuing. "Because I'm not that dumb, you know."

Elena sighed. "I'm sorry, Cassie. But it was for your own good. Have you ever heard the story of when Hermes stole a bunch of cattle from Apollo? Even though Hermes was just a baby, Apollo wanted him to go to Tartarus for his actions. Until Hermes gave him the lyre, of course. Apollo loved that thing." Her voice suddenly grew sad, is if she was remembering something. "And you have _no idea_ how mad Apollo would be if someone took his lyre."

Elena fidgeted, pulling on her long sleeve. I wondered why she always wore long sleeves, even in the summer.

"How mad, Elena?" I questioned. "Did you, as a twelve year old girl, once try to take his lyre? And did something happen? Did-"

"Stop it!" Elena yelled, running out of the infirmary. "Stop it, Cassie!"

Will looked towards me. There was sorrow in his eyes I had never noticed before. "Just….. don't ask, Cass. and whatever you do, _don't take the lyre_."

—

So many thoughts floated in my head that night as I failed to go to sleep. Should I still go try to steal the lyre? What had happened to Elena?

Why, oh why did I ever enter this stupid poem contest?


	6. Chapter 6

I woke up that morning, at about three o'clock, by Marisol.

"Cassie," she whispered, tapping my shoulder. "What's the plan?"

"There is no plan, Mare." I told her, putting a pillow over my head. "Just let me sleep."

"What are you guys talking about?" Olivia yawned.

"Nothing." I muttered. "Go back to sleep."

"Doesn't sound like nothing." Kayla said.

"Yeah," Victoria added. "Come on, Cass. We're your siblings. We know when you're lying."

"We honestly weren't talking about anything important, guys." I said.

"Totally," Austin agreed, walking in from the other room. "Hi Cass. Hi Olivia. Hi Kayla. Hi Victoria. Hi Elena-who-is-sleeping. Hi-"

"All right, that's enough!" Marisol cried, putting a finger over her mouth. "Shh. We don't want to wake Will or Elena."

"So," Olivia wondered. "Are we still going to steal Dad's lyre?"

"No." Marisol and I said at the same exact time.

"Aww," cried Austin. "It was gonna be fun. We made a plan when you guys were gone."

"Also," Victoria added, running her fingers through her hair. "It was actually a good plan, if I do say so myself."

"Yeah," sighed Olivia. "I guess we'll just have to steal the lyre ourselves. That's too bad. It would have been nice to take you too along."

" _Olivia_ ," Marisol said, growing angry. "Don't go. Please. You could get hurt, or in trouble, or get sent to Tartarus, or-"

"Or Dad could come to Cass's poetry award ceremony thing, and we wouldn't have to listen to her whine all day." Olivia finished. "You know, positive thinking, Sunny."

"Don't call me that!" Marisol cried. "It's not funny that my name means sun!"

"Well, actually," added Kayla. "It means 'of sun and sea.' Or something like that."

"Well," sighed Austin. "We need to leave now if we're going to get the lyre today."

Elena suddenly sat up in bed. "Guys," she said. "Now, really-"

"It's all right, Elena." Olivia assured her. "Don't worry, we came up with a plan, and we assessed all the dangers. No need to worry."

Will walked in from the other room. " _Well_ ," he sighed, looking at all of us. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Count me in."

"No," Elena cried, shivering. "No, no, no, no. I am not going to allow my siblings to go on a death mission to steal my father's lyre." Her eyes drifted towards my half brother. "I can't allow you to do this. As co-counselor, I order you to stay here."

"And as counselor," Will put in. "I say that it is our duty to protect our siblings. You coming, Elena?"

"Scars," Elena muttered. "Terrible, terrible, heat. Burns. The infirmary. Weeks and weeks and weeks." She shuddered, pulling her blanket up to her chest. Her eyes locked onto Will's.

"William," she cried. "You promised."

Will looked so sad for a moment that I almost thought I was going to cry.

"I'm sorry, Elena." He whispered, pulling open the door, and letting it slam behind him as we all walked out in a single line.

 **A/N: Thanks for the reviews!**


	7. Chapter 7

We all walked along the road quietly, Will staring at the moon, until my nosy sister decided to ask a question.

"What happened to Elena?" said Olivia, almost cautious-sounding for once in her life.

"Nothing," Will said quickly, staring up at the sky. "I can't believe I'm doing this. You know, why _am_ I doing this?"

"Because you don't want your siblings to get hurt." Austin replied. "And because I'm awesome, and I talked you into it."

"So, we're going to New York City?" Victoria asked. "How are we getting there? I'm pretty sure it's, like, sixty miles away."

"Yeah," sighed Will. "Anyone got a drachma? We can just call the Gray Sisters."

"Or," Austin added, with a smirk on his face. "We can hitchhike."

Austin walked over to the side of the road, and stuck his thumb out. We all stared at him, mouths open.

"What?" he asked. "It's perfectly legal, y'know."

Will just shook his head.

After a while, quite a few cars had passed by, but none stopped.

"Come on, guys," Will said, glancing at his watch. "We've been here for half an hour. I don't think anyone is stopping."

But as soon as Will finished, someone with a minivan pulled up.

The person rolled their window down. "Come on, kids!" she yelled. "Get in the car!"

"Uh….." said Will. "You know, maybe we can walk…"

Austin ran over and opened the door. "In, peoples!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Come on already!"

We walked over, and got in the car. Since there were only six unoccupied seats, Marisol and I had to double-buckle. Everyone else got their own seat.

"So, where am I taking you?" The lady asked. 

"Walker Tower, New York City, please." Victoria answered politely, giving the lady her best smile.

"I'll be there in forty-five." the lady said, the speedometer on her car going up very quickly.

—-

Precisely forty-five minutes later, after a very quick ride, the lady dropped us off at Walker Tower.

"Now, you take care of yourselves, kids." she said, smiling slightly. "By the way, the password on Dad's door is 'sun.' Now don't get yourselves in too much trouble, all right?"

"How did you know we were demigods?" I asked. The lady sighed.

"I know a child of Apollo when I see one. And a group of kids, all with blonde hair, blue eyes, and swords sticking out of their pockets? That just screams Apollo." She smiled. "See ya, kids."

"Bye!" we called as she drove away.

—-

We quickly walked into the building. Luckily, no one seemed too put off from our pajamas and messy hair.

"ID?" The doorman asked. I gulped.

"Um…" said Olivia. "We're just visiting our Dad."

"Name?" The doorman asked. He eyed each of us carefully, frowning at our messy hair.

"Olivia Apollo. And these are my siblings-"

"You're good to go." The doorman said quickly. "Hurry up, demigods! I don't want any monsters!"

Thanking him, we quickly squished into the elevator. Kayla started pressing random buttons.

"What floor?" she asked.

"Uh…..ninth." replied Will.

The elevator quickly reached the ninth floor, and we all tumbled out.

"Shh," whispered Olivia. "We don't want to wake anyone up. It's only four thirty."

We quietly crept along, until we reached Apollo's door. I typed in the pin.

We opened the door, and walked in.

—

It was a mess. Boxes covered most of the floor, along with socks, food wrappers, and crumpled pieces of poetry.

But in the corner, sitting on top of the bed, sat the item we had been looking for.

My father's lyre.

 **A/N: Double update! If you guys keep reviewing, I'll do another one.**


	8. Chapter 8

It was the most beautifully astonishing thing us Apollo children had ever seen. We were immediately drawn to it, and we all walked over, in a zombie-like sort of trance, to see the beautiful, golden instrument.

"Forget what I said," cried Will. "Let's steal this thing already!"

We all reached for it at the exact same time.

"I get to carry it!" Marisol cried, pulling it away from Olivia.

"No, I get too."

"No, me!"

And it went on like that for a good ten minutes, until Will announced that since he was counselor, he would be carrying the lyre.

"That," said Olivia, crossing her arms in a way only Olivia can do. "Is unfair. I had it first."

"Well, that's just too dang bad." Will said, lovingly caressing the lyre. We all stared, jealous.

"Please, please, please, please can I hold it, Will?" I asked. "I promise I'll be extra careful. So can I?"

"No," he said, gently rocking it. "I'm trying to sing it a lullaby. Be quiet, will you?"

Suddenly, Austin came over, and pulled the lyre out of Will's hands. He walked backwards, running into the wall, and dropping the lyre, which broke.

We all stared at lyre for what seemed like eternity.

"Run." Will finally said.

So we ran. Out of the apartment and into the hallway. Into the elevator, and out the door. By the time we had made it out of there, we were all panting and out of breath.

"Call Artemis." Victoria gasped.

"Why?" Olivia asked, wiping beads of sweat off of her eyebrow. "What am I going to say, 'Oh, hello, Lady Artemis, we just broke your brother's lyre. Please save us from our father.'"

"Nah, don't call Artemis," Austin stated, "Thalia Grace is scary."

"We need to leave, guys. _Now_ ," Will cried, "Do you guys know anyone who lives in New York City?"

Marisol blushed. "My aunt. She doesn't like kids, though, and-"

"That doesn't matter right now!" I cried, "Please, Mare! Can you call her?"

"No phone." Marisol sighed. "Sorry."

"Wait," Will cried, starting to run again. "Follow me."

—-

We all ran after him, until he finally stopped at a phone booth five blocks away.

"Here, Marisol!" he yelled. "Come call your aunt!"

Marisol walked inside of the phone booth, and grabbed the phone. She took some change out of her pocket, and put it in.

"Hello," she said into the phone. "Yes, Aunt Guinevere, I know it's early, but can you please come pick us up? Yeah, I know. It's an emergency, though. I know I owe you like five hundred dollars, but I'm your niece." Marisol hung up, brushing off her hands.

Ten minutes later, a fancy limousine arrived. A man who looked about twenty opened the door.

"Greetings. Miss Woods." he said, helping us all into the car.

"Hi, David." Marisol said, hopping into the car.

"Your aunt apologizes for not being able to come. She had a meeting." David smirked, starting the engine. "Translation: she's too lazy to come see her niece."

Marisol sighed. "As usual. David, can you please take us to Camp Half-Blood?"

"Sure thing, Miss." David said.

"Um, David?" Kayla asked. "Can you go fast? We're kind of in trouble."

David froze. "Marisol. What did you do?"

"We broke our Dad's lyre." Will explained, "Nothing too serious."

 _Right_. Because stealing a god's favorite item, and then breaking it, is never serious. Of course not.

"Well," began Olivia, "It's-"

Victoria clapped her hand over Olivia's mouth. "Seriously, it's nothing, though."

"Right," said David, "Well, I'll just do my job, and get you there. Marisol can tell me everything later."

"Thanks, David."

—-

We reached Camp about an hour later. David let us out, making sure we weren't forgetting anything.

"Now, have fun, all right?" he called after us.

"Thank you!" everyone called back.

We ran up the hill, to our cabin, where we found Elena waiting inside.

"You're safe!" she cried, running over, and enveloping us all in a hug.

"Besides the fact that Austin broke Apollo's lyre, yeah, I guess." Muttered Victoria.

Elena's face hardened. She almost fell over, but Marisol and I helped her into the chair.

"No." she whispered, "You didn't."

"We kind of did." Olivia confirmed, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "It was Austin's fault, though."

"It was not!" Austin cried, "It wouldn't have broken if Will would've just _shared_ it."

"That's not true," Will said, "You didn't have to grab it out of my hands!"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I walked over, and opened it.

There, standing in the middle of the steps, glaring at me, was my father Apollo.

 **A/N: Ha ha! Cliffhanger! Remember, the more you review, the faster I'll update!**


	9. Chapter 9

I gulped. "Hello, Lord Apollo. What brings you here on this nice day?"

Apollo glared, brushing past me into the room. There was a fire in his eye I had never seen before, and he was so mad that his skin was the color of crimson. He stood there, with his hands balled into fists.

"All right!" he yelled, "Who broke my lyre?"

We all stood there, silent for a moment, until Will raised his hand.

"I did," he said, calm as ever, "I broke your lyre, Dad, and I'm really sorry. I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."

"You're lying," Apollo said, almost whispering, "Austin, come here. Now."

We all looked toward Austin. He walked over slowly, grasping his shirt like it was one thousand dollars.

"Are you mad?" Austin asked, cocking his head to the side, "Sorry. It was an accident."

Apollo frowned. "No, I'm not mad! I'm furious! I can't even think of a good haiku, I'm so angry!"

"You never could anyways." Olivia muttered under her breath. Apollo chose to ignore her, and continued,

"You broke my precious baby! I could have you sent to Tartarus for this!" He took a minute to look each of us in the eye. "And I would have, except that Artemis talked me out of it. She made a good point. If I sent you to Tartarus, who would fix my lyre?"

Apollo snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the lyre appeared at his feet. It lay in two pieces, and the strings were all messed up.

"Now, since I'm so awesome, and smart, and inspiring, and magnificent, I won't even kill you! Instead, you can just fix my lyre, and write one thousand poems about how great I am," Apollo frowned, looking as if he was trying to remember something, "Wait, why did you try to steal my lyre in the first place?"

"Because we wanted to get your attention," Olivia said, "So you could go to Cassie's _stupid_ poetry contest. So you could actually act like a real father for once, and not someone who just shows up when we're in trouble."

Apollo stared at Olivia. "What do you mean? I am an amazing parent! Just read Cassie's poem!" Apollo cleared his throat, and started to recite my poem from memory.

Elena looked at me, raising an eyebrow. I shrugged.

"Well, bye, kids," Apollo said, "Don't forget to write your one thousand poems…. Or else I really will have to send you to Tartarus."

I laughed uneasily. Apollo was just kidding…. Right?

"Oh, one more thing," Apollo sighed, "See you at the awards ceremony, Cassandra!"

With that, Apollo snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"He didn't kill or maim anyone!" Elena exclaimed, smiling for the first time since we left.

"I guess that getting the lyre was pointless," Austin sighed. "Now we have to go write one thousand poems. Thanks, Cassie!"

"I'll write them," I told everyone, "I got us into this mess, and I'll get us out."

"Thanks Cass," Olivia cried, plopping down onto Elena's bed. "So, Elena, what exactly happened with you, and the lyre?"

"Guys," warned Will. "Leave Elena alone. She doesn't have to tell the story."

"I want to," said Elena. "You guys might want to sit down, because this is kind of a long story. It all started the day I turned twelve years old. For my birthday that year, I wanted to meet my father, and I was determined to do anything to make that happen…"

"And then," Elena continued, "I was about to walk out the door with the lyre, when Apollo came in. He saw me, and without thinking, grabbed my arm. He wasn't able to contain his anger, and he accidentally burned me." Elena pulled up her sleeve, revealing a long scar that went up her arm. "That's why I always wear long sleeves, if you were wondering. After that day, I was stuck in the infirmary for a while, but," She shrugged. "I eventually got better, but some scars never heal."

—-

I learned a lot that day. Sometimes, the thing you're looking for isn't even really missing, and you should appreciate what you have, instead of going out into the world to get more.

I also learned one more thing: Never steal your father's lyre, especially if your father happens to be Apollo.

 **A/N: Well, this here is the end. Unless, of course, you want an epilogue…..**


End file.
